WTA new season interview

The following is a transcript of an interview Ana gave to the WTA about her off-season:Hopefully you managed to take some time off and relax once the season ended. Where did you go for your holiday this year?
I had a great time. It was quite hectic though, because I travelled around: I visited my family in Belgrade and celebrated my birthday there. Then I went to London for a few days and spent time with my brother. After that I went to Necker island for a charity event – it was amazing!! One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Then I went back to London, before I started training again in Mallorca.

This month I played exhibition matches in Bogota, against Sharapova, then in Antwerp against Flipper (Kirsten Flipkens). They were both a lot of fun.

Why is pre-season training so important for a tennis player?
It’s the main time that we have to really work on our games, and also on our fitness. For me, getting stronger and fitter is a priority, and of course you can’t really spend too much time on that when you have tournaments to compete in. So this is the time to really lay the foundations for improvement.

What types of training have you been doing off the court? Anything new compared with previous years?
Lots of important but not very interesting gym work

Are you working with the same coaching/fitness team next season or any changes?
Since the summer I’ve had a new team: Nemanja Kontic is my coach and my fitness trainer is Zlatko Novkovic. I’ve worked with Zlatko on and off for several years and now it’s great to have him with me full-time. Nemanja and I have great co-operation and he’s a very good player, so he hits with me too. Between the three of us there is a lot of positive energy and we feel confident about the new season.

The first Grand Slam of the year isn’t far away – do you have any special memories of Melbourne? Or is there anything you particularly look forward to about that time of year and the Australian Open?
I have so many wonderful memories of Melbourne. It’s one of my favourite cities – along with Paris it’s my favourite actually. I have always loved visiting there because I have family nearby in Mentone, and that’s always what I look forward to most – seeing them. This year my uncle and aunt will come and watch me at the Auckland tournament, which will be fun.

My best memory of Melbourne on the court would have to be my comeback victory over Daniela Hantuchova in the semis in 2008. Also beating Venus for the first time that year was very special.

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions, and if so what are they?
Laugh a lot, love what I do and enjoy moments with friends and family.

Who is your favorite person to follow on twitter?
Fashion blogs. It’s nice to see what’s happening outside of our tennis world.